The recent global pandemic has generated a mental health crisis in our culture. Although experts will not fully comprehend the psychological effects of COVID-19 for many years, millions of people around the world are currently experiencing the repercussions. The complex emotions associated with the coronavirus include feelings of fear, grief, loss,...

I recently assigned a Bossa Nova to my sixteen-year-old intermediate piano student. Even though the style was new to him, he enjoyed the sound of the piece and was excited to learn it. In preparation, we watched performances on YouTube so he could hear a range of tempi and characterizations. We wrote out the beats in the score so he could understan...

As musicians striving towards perfection, we engage in destructive self-talk while practicing, undermining our confidence, disconnecting us from our bodies, and cutting us off from authentic artistic expression. With increasing rates of anxiety and depression among adolescents and teens, our young students often feel overwhelmed and ...

When I returned to graduate school in psychology, writing papers was a typical assignment. This was often the case in courses dealing with clinical material. I remember being assigned a paper in a class on Family Dynamics; we were asked to describe a family we were treating and discuss how the work was progressing. At the time of this assignment, I...

I am writing this just after returning from Las Vegas, where I attended some wonderful programs at the 2015 Music Teachers National Association Conference. I also presented sessions as part of a Pedagogy Saturday track that explored the psychological and physical health of musicians.  Las Vegas is a city of sights, sounds, foods, and a tw...

The feeling engendered by teaching can span the full range of human emotion-stimulating, routine, exciting, boring, satisfying, frustrating, fulfilling, discouraging, and so on. In fact, using the language of today's bumper stickers, these feelings can range from "I " teaching" to "I'd rather be _____," filling in the blank with any activity t...